Nina Halim

I woke up in the late afternoon of Monday to a guilt ridden husband. He went to look for Awan again as I was about to have a shower. I was supposed to meet the girls for dinner at Seoul Garden.

Then he came up to tell me that he heard meow replies when he was calling out her name. “I can’t be going crazy and hearing things right”. But he said he wasn’t certain where it was coming from. I haven’t started on that shower yet so I followed him on his relentless quest. I called out but there were no replies. So I hurried back up to have that shower. As it was, I was already running late.

I was thinking of how to stash my lament aside when at the dinner table. I contemplated if I should even attend. I didn’t want to be a downer. Then I heard Iman outside the bathroom door mumbling. He said somebody wanted to talk to me.

When I opened the door, there was Awan sitting smugly in his arms, almost successfully hiding the trauma in those big eyes. In a true Malay mother mode, clad in only a towel, I gave a menacing stare in return and said, “Kau jalan pergi cuci kaki!!” (Go wash your feet!). She let out a small whimper. Obviously, Iman had to wash her legs. In American films, mothers would probably go like, “Oh my poor baby, you made me so worried, don’t do that again”. Even though, it was the child’s fault. Malay mothers, or parents I should say, would play unaffected and indifferent and just give you their one liners. Or they would nag or even scream at you till the cows come home and then go to the kitchen to prepare you a warm meal.

Iman found Awan in the room of the neighbour’s at the first floor. When he finally saw her face, he went over to his door to knock. But no one was home. So he had to climb the window to reach for her.  She seemed frightened and he got a few scratches. Just as he was about to climb down, the neighbour next door caught Iman looking like a thief. A cat thief. But they chatted a bit and everything was fine. So we don’t know if the neighbour took her or she jumped in herself.

I checked for signs of penetration because I would dread it if she returned home pregnant. When we lost Cookie (my first cat which stays with my mother now) for 2 weeks, she was found with scratch marks and some bleeding back there. She was really dirty and traumatized. She didn’t really get back to her normal self until today.

Awan was still a little bit disoriented when I was about to leave but at least, I could leave the house in a different tone. Didn’t need the “Missing” posters after all (but thanks Jay).

I was late of course. They were already halfway through their steamboat meals, almost mendak in their seats. I didn’t eat much. I suppose I was still a little bit traumatized myself. But I did go big on the desserts. Salim was there and played his role as one of the girls very well. All of us except Jay and Feeza Belo went to Kampong Glam to chill out after.

Wan( Zura’s husband) joined us as we were making our way there. I was walking with Wan and Salim as the girls were walking too fast in the front. I was grumbling, “Why do they have to walk so fast when my kelengkang (inner thigh) is aching so bad?”. Wan, not paying attention to what I just said, turned around and asked, “So how’s married life treating you?”. That was just LOL. I was referring to aches from painting over the weekend.

I don’t how we got to talking about cars. But I was asking if I could bring in a Mustang if I was rich. Or a vintage Jaguar roadster like the one in Cruel Intentions. I was telling them nak feeling-feeling ala Jackie O glasses and the white scarf on the head and blasting keroncong. 5 mins later, a rickshaw dude pulled up equipped with lights and thingamagiks. And he blasted a keroncong playlist. Then came along minah feeling-feeling photoshoot with the rickshaw in the middle of the night with no lights whatsoever in the dark alley with Variasari poses. I know for a fact she is minah feeling-feeling. The minah’s got quite a rep I was told.

Later on we had to walk to Jalan Kubor (Cemetery Street) because Zura parked there. I assumed she parked there before sundown and I was right. We came to a junction and saw 3 kids on bicycles who made a U turn when they saw me, just to exchange coy smiles with me. So sweet. I wanted to ask them where they got those modified gentlemen bicycles. But their continuous coy smiles made me even more shy to ask them. And then I was distracted by the thought Mak budak-budak ni tak marah ke malam-malam buta main basikal. They were like 13 or something? And it was way past bedtime.

All in all, a great Monday after all, except Iman fell asleep and didn’t record my parents’ show. He didn’t even recall me telling him. My mom had called to remind me earlier in the afternoon. Where do I go to pull strings and ask for a huge favour now. Pfft.

Images courtesy of Ernie. More on my Flickr.

Related posts:

1. Paradise for Awan
2. Cat Worries
3. Awan on the canopy
4. Wifi Neighbours
5. 日々の音色